A large variety of such arrangements and methods are generally known in the art.
Fully automated milking systems provided with a milking robot for automatically attaching teat cups to the teats of the milking animals to be milked have been used during the last decade, preferably at smaller to mid-sized dairy farms. Automated milking systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,463,877; 6,357,387; 6,334,406; 6,237,530; 6,148,766; 6,044,793; 5,957,081, in U.S. Pat. Application Publications Nos. 20030172876 A1; and 20030101939 A1, as well as in references therein.
Batchwise milking arrangements such as parallel stall, rotary and Herringbone parlors, on the other hand, have been used extensively for a long time. They are used in dairy farms of all sizes. Parallel stall configurations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,634,428; 5,285,746; and 5,000,119, rotary configurations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,817,312; 6,814,027; 6,802,280; 5,718,185; and 5,687,673, and Herringbone parlors are disclosed in e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,718,185; 5,259,334; 4,508,059; and 4,362,127.
Further, patent applications have been filed on several aspects of managing cows in large herds of livestock, see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,019,061; and 5,950,562; International Patent Application Publications Nos. 2004/068940 A1; and 03/000044 A1, and European Patent Application Publications Nos. 1 213 676 A1; 0 832 558 A2; 0 608941 A1; and 0 566 201 A2.